The Seattle Mariners signed veteran infielder Tommy La Stella to a one-year deal on Thursday.
The 33-year-old La Stella has a .267 career average with 40 homers and 204 RBIs in 667 games over nine seasons.
“Tommy’s makeup, instincts and experience in winning environments will benefit our team as we look to make the next step.” Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto said in a news release. “We value his versatility and strike zone management skills, as well as what I believe to be a high baseball IQ.”
La Stella batted .239 with two homers and 14 RBIs in 60 games for the San Francisco Giants last season. He was released by the Giants earlier this month.
La Stella was an American League All-Star for the Los Angeles Angels in 2019 when he established career highs of 16 homers, 44 RBIs and a .295 average in 80 games.
The lone time the left-handed-hitting La Stella had more than 300 at-bats in a season was his rookie season of 2014 for the Atlanta Braves. He batted .251 in 319 at-bats.
La Stella also has played for the Chicago Cubs (2015-18), the Angels (2019-20), Oakland Athletics (2020) and Giants (2021-22).
Seattle also designated left-hander Justus Sheffield for assignment to open up a 40-man roster spot. Sheffield, 26, went 12-12 with a 5.40 ERA in 45 appearances (33 starts) in parts of four seasons for the Mariners.
Sheffield was acquired from the New York Yankees after the 2018 season as part of the package when the Mariners dealt left-hander James Paxton to New York.
–Field Level Media